Bahrain King's Kazakhstan visit boosts ties

Astana, April 16, 2014

Major political, economic and humanitarian agreements were announced yesterday between Bahrain and Kazakhstan.

His Majesty King Hamad ended his historic official state visit during which he held talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Karim Massimov, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

A joint communique confirmed the two governments' aspirations to develop and bolster lasting bilateral friendship and co-operation, boost regional and international security and consolidate the principles of reciprocity, partnership and dialogue in international relations.

The two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

They agreed that high-profile talks in Astana as well as the agreements concluded during the visit have ushered in a new phase in the history of relations between Bahrain and Kazakhstan and rendered a strong push to developing bilateral trade, economic and investment relations and boosting co-operation in the humanitarian field.

The two sides agreed to develop the Islamic banking system in Kazakhstan in view of Bahrain's vast expertise as a major hub of Islamic financing.

They expressed their desire to play an active role in the Future Energy Expo 2017 in Astana which will focus on alternative sources of energy.

Bahrain and Kazakhstan denounced all forms and manifestations of terrorism and extremism, urging more efforts in combating organised crime, transnational drugs and weapons trafficking and other crimes which undermine the security, stability and peace of nations.

Bahrain highly appreciated the initiative of President Nazarbayev who had proposed the creation of the Islamic Organisation for Food Security having its headquarters in Astana under the umbrella of Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. Bahrain expressed its keenness to join the organisation.

Bahrain praised the active stance of Kazakhstan in resolving regional and international issues and its constant commitment to the principles of international peace and partnership.

The two sides emphasised the significance of developing and boosting mechanisms of political consultation, trust and co-ordination and announced their support to the notion of converting the "Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia" into an international organisation to deal with security issues in Asia.

The two sides agreed to develop bilateral relations in the fields of education, science and culture and to encourage mutual co-operation between universities and cultural and academic institutions and to facilitate student and professionals exchange programmes.

The two sides also agreed to encourage other cultural activities and agreed to organise Bahraini cultural days in Kazakhstan and Kazakh cultural days in Bahrain.

The two nations expressed their support for the International Inter-faith, Civilisations and Cultures Dialogue and praised the initiative of President Nazarbayev who called for the convening of the International Inter-faiths Conference and the initiative of His Majesty of patronising the Civilisations and Cultures Dialogue Conference to be hosted in Bahrain next month.

The two sides agreed to start negotiations leading to the signing of an agreement on aviation transportation between the two countries.

The Bahraini side announced measures to exempt Kazakh citizens from pre-arranged entry visas to Bahrain to become obtainable on arrival. - TradeArabia News Service